Tips about Health, Kids, Resorts and Souvenirs

We stayed at the Art of Animation Resort in the Little Mermaid rooms from April 21-28. I was a little apprehensive since I read so many posts about how far the walk to the building was! We stayed in building 9 (even got a free upgrade to a King bed for our anniversary), and we had no issue with the walk. Walking to the buses in the morning is easy, using the sidewalk on the outside of the buildings. This was especially convenient because they set up a breakfast cart by the Flippin' Fins pool every morning with grab-and-go items, so we didn't have to deal with the crowds at Landscape of Flavors. - Ginger

If you are driving your vehicle to one of the Epcot or Magic Kingdom resorts and plan to dine, be sure to have your confirmation number handy. Guards are being more strict on parking at these resorts! - Deb Wills

All Resorts - Use On-Line Check-In every time and indicate your approximate arrival time. Disney has designated cast members working on these room assignments. Keep your room requests to a minimum, and prioritize them. Everybody wants to have a nice view, near the lobby and next to friends and family, but too many requests may make it impossible to find your perfect room, in your room category. Which request is most important? When Disney has to decide they may not pick yours. - A Cast Member

The best idea I ever had was on our last visit with our 11- and 7-year-old grandsons. I bought the most inexpensive prepay phone I could find and $10 in minutes. I programmed my cell phone number in for one-button dialing and then programmed that phone's number into mine. We never lost the boys because we could call and find them if they got separated from us. We even let them do Tom Sawyer Island and similar attractions by themselves. We were able to call and let them know when it was time to return. This gave them a great feeling of independence and gave us a break. - SJPEC

Shades of Green - The laundry facilities at Shades of Green only accept tokens, not actual quarters. We learned that the hard way when we brought down about $12 in quarters last summer. You must purchase tokens from the change machines in each laundry room to do your laundry there. On the plus side, the kids had a blast at the arcade with those leftover quarters! - Teri Biebel

Animal Kingdom Lodge - I just wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed reading "Zamgwar Sleeps with the Giraffes". The last time my husband and I were in Disney World was in September 2009. We were recently married and a family friend let us use her Disney Vacation Club points as a wedding gift. We stayed at Animal Kingdom Lodge and reading Zamgwar's article brought back such wonderful memories. AKL truly is an amazing resort. I have a tip for anyone staying there: Our room was located on the Uzima Savanna. We much preferred this savanna to the main Arusha Savanna. Arusha is extremely large with lots of trees and bushes and when we went down to one of the public viewing areas, we had trouble seeing a lot of the animals. They were either hidden, or too far away. The Uzima Savanna is much smaller and you are guaranteed an up-close and personal look at the animals! - Jillian

We just returned from a fun vacation at Disney. We went when school was in session so my first-grader was asked to journal daily about what we did (school provided the journal). It occurred to me to bring his journal with him and have characters sign it. He then wrote before or after the autographs about his day and what we did. A great school project and a nice keepsake! - Lisa Kuehnle

My husband uses an ECV to get around the parks. After several trips to the parks, we came up with an easy way to attach our hotel refillable mugs: a shoestring! Usually the basket in front of the ECV is full of other things, so attaching our cups with a shoestring or cup holder is essential. - Judy Shock

All Resorts - For young children who are too big for cribs, bed rails may be available upon request at Disney resorts. Be sure to ask at the front desk if you need them. - Megan

All Resorts - For young children who are too big for cribs, bed rails may be available upon request at Disney resorts. Be sure to ask at the front desk if you need them. - Megan

I loved the article on traveling to Disney with babies (AllEars® Issue #721, July 16, 2013). I agree with all the tips, and I have one of my own. We took our daughter to Disney World when she was 16 months old. As anyone with small children knows, diapers can be bulky to pack so we took enough to get us thru the first day. When we checked into the hotel (Caribbean Beach Resort) we called the front desk. A cast member gave us the phone number for a local pharmacy and we ordered diapers from them, along with a few other things like soda and water and snacks. They were delivered to our room that night, and it was a great experience. We went back when she just shy of 2 years old and did the same thing. I highly recommend this! - Jane Carlson

We all remember to notify our credit card companies before we leave home to let them know we will be out of town so we can use those cards. Something I failed to remember, though, was to notify the company that manages my health insurance "Flex Spending" debit/credit card that I would be in Orlando! Of course, the fourth day into our vacation I got sick. My physician called in an antibiotic to Turner Drug (which, by the way, does not accept any form of insurance). Turner Drug would have accepted my flexible spending card, but it was declined since I hadn't updated it with my traveling details. Also, you don't get a traditional receipt that you can turn in for reimbursement -- that fee was charged on my resort bill. I can't imagine trying to recoup that money with a Disney Resort receipt! - Peggie Radke

For all those with peanut and/or tree nut allergies, make sure you have a meal at the Be Our Guest Restaurant (which was breathtaking, by the way). The chef advised us that no nuts are used on premises, and although the bread was made in a facility that may have resulted in cross contamination, ALL of the desserts were safe for those with peanut/tree nut allergies! My son was able to pick his own cupcake for dessert, and I'm not sure who was more excited -- him or me. The chef just had to prepare the cupcake without the garnish, which did not take away from it at all. Not to mention the cupcakes are amazing! I would highly recommend Be Our Guest, as most other sit-down restaurants are only able to offer ice cream without the Mickey sprinkles for dessert! - April Slavin

My family, which includes my 4-year-old son who has a peanut and tree nut allergy, recently visited Disney World. I did my research and contacted the Special Diets and Dietary Needs cast members prior to our visit, I noted his allergy on all of our Advance Dining Reservations (ADRs) and made sure we mentioned it at all quick-service meals. I am happy to say everything went great! The only minor issue we ran into was at all of our ADRs, some type of bread or rolls were served before dinner and if they were not made in the restaurant, there was no guarantee that they didn't contain any nuts or were cross-contaminated in the bakery. It doesn't sound like a huge deal but when you are a hungry kid and everyone else is eating, it is tough. If I had known this in advance, I would have brought some crackers or something for my son to snack on. Also, a lot of the desserts are not made in the restaurants, so we ran into the same concern there. - Stacy Hearn

Magic Kingdom - It's easy for small children to become over-stimulated by all the input at Disney World, especially Magic Kingdom, and certainly Fantasyland. When taking my granddaughter for her first time, just after her 2nd birthday, we purposely visited Adventureland, doing Aladdin's Magic Carpet first, and then Frontierland on her first morning. On her second morning we visited Fantasyland, riding Dumbo first. She enjoyed the attractions at Fantasyland more, I think, after getting acquainted with the park on her first morning. We have continued the "two mornings" routine at Magic Kingdom, beginning with Adventureland, since that first trip. Our trip when my granddaughter was 5 brought home especially how overwhelming all the sights and sounds of Main Street and Magic Kingdom can be. She thought she remembered, but the reality was something else. She definitely had that deer in the headlights expression on her face, walking down Main Street. Except for our old standby, Aladdin's Magic Carpet -- she greeted that ride enthusiastically. On the trip when she was 7, I thought we would probably do something else first, but she insisted that the Carpets were tradition. And that's what we did first. At rope drop, we're almost the only ones in line. It's like our own private carpet ride. - Kim